eae en rece he Mens Rea / Actus Reus Handout OJEN ¥ ROEJ Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea The act will not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty. Generally speaking, for a person to be found guilty of a criminal offence he or she must have committed an illegal act (actus reus) and had the required “state of mind” (mens rea) for the criminal offence. The Crown ‘must prove both elements of the offence, the actus reus and the mens rea, beyond a reasonable doubt. Actus reusis Latin for “guilty act.” It is common sense that a person must be found to have done the illegal act before she or he can be convicted of the crime. The guilty act can be something a person does or something a person omits to do, i.e. something a person is required to do but falls to do. Commission of an act: Luis and Jimmy are playing outside with a pellet gun Jimmy got for his 14% birthday. Jimmy is bored and decides to test the gun out on neighbourhood animals. When a stray cat runs by, Jimmy shoots and injures it. Omission of an act: Malcolm has always wanted a dog so one day he goes to the Humane Society and gets one. At first Malcolm takes good care of the dog but when things get busy at work, he starts to neglect it. Eventually the dog becomes sick and malnourished because Malcolm has stopped feeding it regularly. ‘Mens reais Latin for “guilty mind." In Canada, most criminal offences require that a person be found to have hhad the necessary “state of mind” or mens reafor the offence before they can be found guilty. For many offences the mens rearefers to intending to commit the act but some offences require different “states of mind” (ie. intending to cause death, knowledge of likely consequences, wilful blindness, negligence, and recklessness), Keep in mind that itis irrelevant whether or not the person knew the act was illegal. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. — ‘As mentioned above, there are several different types of mens rea. In other words, there are different types of mental states for different criminal offences, They include (1) intention; (2) wilful blindness; and, (3) criminal negligence, among others. Intention - a person intends to commit the actus reus * Eg. Alice walks up to Michael and punches him in the face. Michael's nose Is broken by Alice’s punch. The act was deliberate. ‘Manis Rea 7 Actiis Reus aoa - see HandoutWilful blindness ~ a person knows of the possibility of illegality but chooses not to ask questions or investigate the situation ‘+ Eg. Amanda and Keisha are walking down the street when they come across some DVD stalls. Keisha notices the DVDs are a lot of cheaper than in the store. She wonders if they might be gal copies. She decides that she'd rather not know either way. She buys two DVDs for $8, Criminal negligence — while this person did not realize the consequences of her ot his actions, a reasonable person should have Eg. Samantha runs a daycare centre. She lets the children run all over the centre, Several times children have fallen down the stairs. It never occurs to Samantha to buy a proper gate to keep the children away from the staits. One day, little Lee falls down the stairs and is very seriously injured. Ifa person does not intend to commit the illegal act, then they may not be guilty of a crime. For example, although itis an assault to hit someone, if the hitis not intended, tis not an assault. + Eg. Trishasin the schoolyard and is swarmed by bees. Trying to prevent getting stung by the bees, Trisha swats them in a state of panic. While she is flalling at the bees, her arm hits Dwayne violently in the face. Trisha’s action breaks Dwayne’s nose. CSE Asis often the case, there are exceptions. Some criminal offences do not require the Crown to prove the ‘state of mind! of the accused. These offences are called strict liability and absolute liability offences. A person is guilty of a strict or absolute liability offence even if they did not intend to break the law. These offences are often almed at deterring risky behaviour and at stopping harm before it happens. Examples include traffic offences like speeding and environmental offences like polluting, In these cases, the Crown does not have to prove that the accused person intended to commit the act. * Eg, Local residents of a small Ontario town have been complaining about a strange smell coming from a nearby stream. When environmental officials come to investigate, they notice a spill between the stream and a large aluminium factory. They trace the spill to a defective pipe belonging to the factory that is used to transport waste from the factory to the sewage plant, Even though factory officials claim they did not know about the spill, the company is charged with an offence under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act. ‘Mens Rea / Acts Reus Handout | |en as ae a ears Mens Rea / Actus Reus Worksheet 1. Describe a common situation where someone commits anillegal act but .QJEN ¥ ROEJ does not intend to: ESE carat rEUCATION KONE + where someone accidentally or unintentionally harms another person. + where a person possesses something illegal but either does not know the nature of the substance or does not realize he has it. ‘+ where someone is acting on a mistaken set of facts. 2. Ineach of these scenarios, mark in the chart if you think that the person had the actus reus (quilty act) and the mens rea (guilty mind) necessary to be found guilty of the crime. Remember that someone may still have the mens realf they are wilfully blind. ‘Act ‘Mens | Actus Rea__| Reus ~@) While browsing in a CD store, Rasheed ran into a friend from his old school. They decided to get a coffee. As they left the store, Rasheed forgot that he hada CD he was considering buying under his arm. b) Inline fora concert a friend asked Chanice to hold her bag while she went to the bathroom. A drug dog stopped in front of Chanice. The police searched the friend's bag and found a marijuana joint. Chanice was charged with possession of a narcotic. © Sophie baby-sits the neighbours kids everyday after school, sometimes driving them to soccer in the family car, After dropping them off one day, she decides to watch their practice. Sophie leaves the dog in the car for a few hours even though it’s 35 degrees outside. Before the end of the game, someone walks by, notices the distressed dog, and calls the police. <@) Mao was charged with assault after he lost his temper ina restaurant. He felt the bill was unfair. He slammed his fist down on the table and a glass flew off, hitting a customer at the next table and cutting his cheek Just below the eye. €) Brandon was on his way into the beer store when a woman asked him fhe would mind buying her a six-pack of beer while she stayed outside with her dog, He said sure and accepted her money. Once in line he thought that she looked alittle young, but bought her the beer anyway. f) It's Hockey Night in Canada and the Leafs are playing the Senators, Darcy Tucker of the Leafs is looking to get back at Chris Nell of the Senators for a dirty body check in their last game, After a brief verbal exchange, the two players drop their gloves and start punching each other. When the referee notices Neil's nose bleeding, he stops the fight. Nellis not seriously hurt but he sits out the rest of the period. {9) Carmen comes to work one Tuesday feeling really sick. She's recovering froma particularly bad flu and after a few hours at work, she decides she needs to go home ‘Mens Rea/ Actus Reus ae ~~ wawiw.Gien.ca i fee Seehurt, because she’s really tired. Carmen gets into her car and starts driving but she’s having a hard time focussing on the road because she's so tired. A police officer driving | behind her notices she is weaving across driving lanes. Just before he stops hei Carmen falls asleep at the wheel and drives into a ditch. Lucklly, no one is seriously 3. Whats the mens rea, or required state of mind, for the offence of manslaughter? (s. 234 and R. v. Grieghton, (1993) 3 SCR. 3) Think about the two following examples: » 2 Mens ea / Actus Reus Zaid and Erik are walking on the sidewalk along a busy street, laughing and joking around. Erikis teasing Zaid about something so Zai hima litte, joking push. This makes Erik lose his balance and fall into the trafic where he's hit by acar. He Is taken to the hospital but he doesn't make’. In this case, itis unlikely that Zaid would have the mens reafor manslaughter because most people would not normally think a small push would likely cause any harm, Jolanda and Iman are arguing in the hall near the stairs. Jolanda has just found out that Iman has been cheating with Jolanda’s boyfriend for the past few months. Jolandas really angry so she punches Iman in the faceas hard as she can. Iman falls backward down the stairs. When the paramedics come shes lying motionless on the bottom ofthe stairs. They cannot revive her, Jolanda feels really bad and tels the police she didn't mean to hurt iman badly or make her fall down the stars. In this case, Jolanda would probably have the necessary mens reafor mansiaughter because she intentionally assaulted Iman and the average person would think that a hard punch could cause harm, HandoutSoondlaCreate your own... e/ Actus Reus + Intent Actus Reus + Wilful Blindness io wy X . Actus Reus + NO Mens Rea ‘Weris Rea / Actus Reus Handout